-The Vollachian Empire-
Natsuki Subaru and his two dear sons, Al (real name Natsuki Rigel, to be discussed in detail later in Al's arc) and Vincent (the empire's emperor, though reclaiming the throne and fighting the Great Disaster were almost entirely the work of the fatherly 486 → bringing in the army of gladiators and the Emilia Camp), had formed a seemingly stable alliance. To help Vincent regain his throne, they were recruiting whichever of the empire's Nine Divine Generals they could reach. But fate's jokes always came without warning: during a clash with the "Evil Old Man," one of the Nine Divine Generals, Subaru and Al had been reduced to children by his bizarre ninjutsu. Meanwhile, Louis, the Sin Archbishop of "Gluttony," who should have been their sworn enemy but whose personality had already shattered into a blank slate, had instead become Subaru's only companion through a twist of circumstances.
Just as they were trying to recruit Yorna of the Nine Divine Generals, a tribe of horned people unwilling to give up their peaceful lives followed their trail and caught up with them.
"It's about time you explained yourself, bro."
Al's low voice broke the suffocating silence. Behind his iron mask, his gaze was sharp as a blade, fixed squarely on the back of Subaru's bowed head. His voice held none of its usual teasing, only a heavy weight that allowed no evasion.
"This isn't something you can laugh off anymore."
"This isn't just about you. It's about all of us."
His grip on the handle of his dadao turned his knuckles white, and the faint scrape of metal sounded particularly piercing in the empty room. Medium, the merchant girl (Vincent's future empress), also stopped packing her bags. She looked at Subaru worriedly, then cast a timid glance at the brown-haired girl huddled behind him, silently clutching the hem of his clothes.
"What exactly is she hiding?"
The instant Al's question fell, Subaru turned almost instinctively, shielding Louis entirely within his shadow.
It was not to protect her.
He knew better than anyone that this Archbishop of "Gluttony," who had once devoured countless lives and stolen countless memories and loops from him, had no need of a child's protection. He simply did not know how this girl, now as uncomprehending as a blank slate, would react when those hostile, scrutinizing gazes fell on her.
-Or perhaps even he could not tell whether this instinctive action came from fear or something else.
All he knew was that he could no longer hide it.
"She... Louis." Subaru's voice was as dry as scraping sandpaper, each word seemingly squeezed from his throat. "She's... the Sin Archbishop of 'Gluttony.'"
The air instantly froze.
"Bro, that's not a funny joke." Al's voice sank.
"It's not..."
"If it's not a joke, that makes it even less funny!"
As his roar exploded, his dadao flashed out of its sheath. But his shrunken body could not handle the heavy weapon at all. Its tip swung out of control and slammed into the hard stone floor with a clang, numbing the web of Al's hand.
Medium, the merchant girl, covered her mouth, her face instantly turning deathly pale.
Subaru did not look at Al. He slowly raised his head, his gaze passing over the blade to settle on Vincent on the other side of the room.
The man who had remained silent throughout, who had once stood at the pinnacle of the empire's power. If even he chose to stand against him, Subaru knew there would be no room left to salvage this bloodless rupture. He held his breath, his heart pounding wildly in his chest, almost hard enough to shatter his ribs.
"How other countries treat these people, I do not know."
Vincent finally spoke. He wore his distinctive demon-faced shoulder bag, his black eyes calm and still as a frozen lake. Those cold eyes met Subaru's black ones, his icy gaze piercing Subaru's heart like needles, instantly numbing his mind, as though it were instinctively refusing to accept the judgment about to come.
"But in my empire, regardless of their reasons, those who worship the 'Witch' and associate with Sin Archbishops are all sentenced to death."
Not a trace of hesitation, not the slightest wavering.
It was an emperor's declaration, and the clearest possible proclamation of a break.
The instant he heard those words, Subaru squeezed his eyes shut.
-I'm sorry.
He repeated it silently. I'm sorry, Al. I'm sorry, Vincent. I'm sorry to everyone who trusted me. But he could not turn back.
"Louis!!"
The name almost burst out of its own accord. Even he did not know why he had called that name, nor did he understand what emotions that cry contained. The instant his voice fell, two cold little hands wrapped tightly around his waist.
A tremendous pull came, and his body was instantly airborne.
Holding him, Louis sprang up the wall like an agile cat. Wind howled past his ears. Subaru kept his eyes tightly shut, clenched his back teeth, and desperately held back the tears welling in his eyes. He knew nothing. He could make sense of nothing.
Leaving Medium and Al behind to flee with Louis was stupidity in the extreme.
Running away with someone whose thoughts I don't understand, whose actions I can't predict, he repeated silently.
All he knew was that he could not abandon the girl clinging to his waist, making small whimpering sounds.
It was not because she had once saved his life, and he wanted to repay her.
It was not because he had developed some inappropriate feelings for her, and wanted to protect her.
It had nothing even to do with Rem, Emilia, or anyone he had once fought with all his strength to protect.
This was his own problem, Natsuki Subaru's.
A choice he had to face alone and make alone.
If, now that even his body and mind had been reduced to this state, he so readily sentenced a bewildered girl to death, he would live in endless regret for the rest of his life.
This was a war that belonged to Natsuki Subaru alone.
It always had been, from beginning to end.
"Hey! Come back! Bro!"
"-Damn it!"
Al's furious roar came from behind them, accompanied by the piercing sound of his dadao being pulled from the ground. But Louis was too fast. She bounded over uneven rooftops, leaping across one block after another, leaving all their pursuers and questions far behind.
Only once she had confirmed they were safe for the moment did she land gently in a gloomy alley, still holding Subaru.
Subaru struggled out of her arms and leaned against the wall, gasping for breath. He looked up at the sky, fragmented by the tall buildings. The sunlight was dazzling, yet it could not reach the gloom in his heart.
"This can't go on." He clenched his little fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. "I have to undo the infantilization as soon as possible so I can judge things properly. Right, find Mr. Olbart."
Just then, a jumble of footsteps and shouts came from the mouth of the alley.
The horned pursuers had caught up after all.
Subaru's heart sank. Taking Louis's hand, he tried to run deeper into the alley.
"You two, over here."
A clear, cool male voice rang out without warning from the end of the alley.
Subaru stopped short and looked over warily. A long-haired young man stood in the shadows at the alley's end. He wore a dark blue robe washed pale, his long silver-gray hair falling loosely over his shoulders, its ends swaying gently in the breeze. His skin was almost transparently pale, but his eyes were the deep blue of a starry sky, as though they contained all the stars in the universe.
Leaning against the mottled wall, he beckoned gently to Subaru and Louis.
"You're being chased, aren't you?" The young man's voice was soft, yet carried a strange, soothing power. "They have numbers on their side and won't give up. Listen to me. Hide in here. They won't find this place."
Subaru did not move. He stared hard at the unfamiliar young man, every nerve in his body taut. Right now, he was only a powerless child. Any adult with ill intentions could easily hurt him and Louis.
"Who are you? Why are you helping us?" he asked in a low voice, quietly shielding Louis behind him once again.
At his words, the young man's lips curved slightly. His smile was faint, yet like a star quietly blooming in the night sky, it carried an indescribable air of mystery.
"My name is Ubilk," he said. "If I said I offered a helping hand because I didn't want to see two little brats bullied by those barbarians, would you believe me?"
"...Like hell I would." Subaru curled his lip.
Ubilk chuckled, unoffended. He raised his head and looked toward the sky, his gaze distant and deep, as though it could pierce the clouds and see the faraway river of stars.
"Actually, I had not intended to go out today," he said slowly, his voice as soft as a sigh. "But somewhere beyond knowing, a voice was guiding me. It told me that here, today, I would meet someone who would change the fate of the world."
He paused and lowered his head, those starry eyes looking straight at Subaru.
"Or rather-it was the guidance of the stars."
Stars again.
Subaru's heart gave a sudden tremor.
He could not help remembering the girl who called herself the "guardian of the stars." Shaula, who had been as passionate as fire, who had trusted him without reservation and told him, "I love you." The girl he had known for only a few days in the Sage's Tower, yet who had ultimately dissolved into a sky full of starlight because of that so-called contract.
They had promised that they would meet again.
Natsuki Subaru always made so many promises he could not keep.
But this time, he believed with absolute conviction that he would keep that promise.
"What kind of charlatan talk is that?" Subaru turned his face away, forcibly suppressing the emotions churning in his heart, and deliberately adopted a snarky tone. "I thought you were about to sing, 'Fate made our meeting an accident.'"
Ubilk: "?"
"Sorry, wrong channel." Subaru coughed dryly. "Mr. Ubilk, please continue."
"A meeting is fate." Ubilk did not mind. He took a copper disk covered in engraved star charts from his robe pocket and gently spun it between his fingertips. "I know a little of divination by the stars. Young fellow, would you like your fortune told? Free of charge."
"A scammer's trick. I don't need it." Subaru refused without a second thought.
"I am not a scammer." Ubilk's expression remained calm, though his eyes now held a trace of an inexplicable sense of destiny. "I am merely fulfilling the mission of the role bestowed upon me. Perhaps I was destined to meet you here, today."
"Eugh, you're giving me goosebumps." Subaru rubbed his arms. "Keep that up and I'm leaving."
"You cannot leave," Ubilk said mildly. "The pursuers at the alley's entrance have already searched as far as the third intersection ahead. Go out now, and you will only walk into their net."
Seeing Subaru's expression change, he added, "Besides, if you refuse the reading, I will shout right now and tell them two children are hiding here."
"Don't you dare!" Subaru's eyes widened. "If you dare shout, I'll shut the door and unleash Louis first!"
At his words, Louis looked up blankly, blinked her large purple eyes, then obligingly opened her mouth to show her sharp little canine teeth and gave a threatening "Hah-."
Watching this childish standoff, Ubilk could not help laughing.
"All right, I will stop teasing you." Dropping his joking tone, he held out a hand to Subaru. "Just think of it as being fooled once, and give it a try. I will not hurt you. Besides, what I have to tell you is of vital importance to you."
His gaze was too sincere, too firm. Subaru hesitated for a moment, but ultimately placed his little hand in Ubilk's cold palm, however reluctantly.
Louis watched quietly beside them, saying nothing, only tightening her grip on Subaru's clothes.
Ubilk gently took Subaru's hand. His fingertips were cold, with a strange feel to them. Closing his eyes, he quietly recited an ancient, obscure incantation. The star disk in his hand began to turn slowly, giving off a faint silver glow.
Even the air around them seemed to stand still.
A moment later, Ubilk opened his eyes. Starlight flowed through them, as though countless stars were being born and dying within. Looking at Subaru, he spoke each word distinctly, his voice ethereal and distant, like a star chant from the highest heavens:
"The seven luminaries gather in heaven; the Pleiades shine their light.
Your shoulders bear the hopes of many; your heart holds a hundred wounds.
The mountains are high, the waters distant; the road is barred and long.
With steadfast bonds, even gold can be severed; the stars shine, the night is not yet spent.
The stars reveal that all you wish shall one day come to pass.
Yet-
The brightest star is always the loneliest hero."
The instant the final words fell, the star disk's light abruptly went out.
Silence returned to the alley.
Subaru stood frozen in place, his heart racing without cease.
The Pleiades.
His name came from a constellation in another world.
This star chanter he had never met before had revealed, in a single utterance, the constellation hidden in his name, and the loneliness he had always buried deep in his heart, which no one understood.
He opened his mouth to say something, only to find his throat seemingly blocked by something, unable to utter a word.
Just then.
Without warning, the sky went dark.
It was not the dimness of dark clouds blotting out the sun.
Nor was it the gradual change of falling dusk.
It was an absolute, pure darkness, without the slightest impurity. As though an invisible, enormous hand had covered the entire sky tightly with a vast black cloth.
All sunlight vanished.
All color vanished.
In an instant, the entire world plunged into an endless night so dark that no one could see their own hands.
Subaru jerked his head up, his heart almost leaping from his chest.
"Wh... what's happening?!"
His voice carried a tremor he could not conceal. Behind him, Louis gave a frightened whimper and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist again, burying her face in his back.
"An eclipse? No! This is too sudden! And no eclipse gets this dark!" Subaru pinched his thigh hard, and a sharp pain came through clearly. "This isn't an illusion! Hey! Ubilk! What the hell are you doing?!"
No one answered.
The darkness lasted a full ten seconds.
Then, in the very center of the sky, deep within that absolute darkness, a faint point of light appeared.
It was a seemingly unremarkable star.
But in the next second, that star began expanding at an astonishing speed, glowing with a soft, holy white light.
The white light spread rapidly, sweeping across the entire sky like a tide. At last, it formed an immense screen spanning the whole horizon. Even in the royal capital thousands of miles away, even in the frozen lands at the ends of the world, everyone could clearly see the images on that sky screen.
Subaru stood dumbly in place, head tilted back, mouth wide open.
He had seen the Witch's Authority, the terror of the Sin Archbishops, the might of dragons, and the miracles of the Sage's Tower.
But he had never seen a sight so stunning, so far beyond imagination.
"Wh... what the hell is that thing?" he muttered. "Has the Great Disaster come early? Or... is this another damned Sin Archbishop's doing?"
Just then, the image on the sky screen began to move.
The background was an endless yellow desert. Blazing sunlight scorched the cracked earth, and hot winds swept yellow sand across the sky, blurring the distant horizon. At the end of that horizon, a pitch-black tower pierced the clouds like a sharp sword.
That tower.
Subaru would never forget it as long as he lived.
The Pleiades Watchtower.
Or rather,
-The Sage's Tower.